Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Happiness is a full hay barn

One of my winter prep checklist items is putting up enough hay for all of the critters. Last year, with the cold and wet spring, I ended up feeding hay from October (first frost) to April, which was 7 months. I'd put up enough hay for 5 months, figuring on a normal year, and so ran short and had to scramble a bit to find some late in the season. This year I'm putting away roughly twice what I normally do so that I have a bit extra to sell. I watched people paying $15 to $18 a bale last year, and I can make a tidy profit at $10 a bale, so I'm going to gamble a little.

The bales in the picture above are 600lb bales of the same hay, just packaged differently. The bales I put up for sale I had made into square bales, 46" long, that horse people tend to like.

The drought in the midwest will cause all forage prices to rise is what I'm thinking. It hasn't happened around here yet, but it will. I'm betting that my $10 bales will be mighty attractive. It's good quality hay and

The hay barn is always a favorite of the dogs. They spend a lot of time searching the cracks between the bales for things to kill. There's usually a mouse or two, sometimes a weasel, occasionally a possum or a raccoon. They take their patrol duties quite seriously.

I found these black plastic pallets locally; they're used for shipping dairy products. They are what I stack my hay on. they're sturdy, don't rot, and best of all, don't have any nails in them. Pallet nails are a constant threat to my tractor tires. Plus its another way to recycle.